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New Obamacare Chief Confirmed With Republican Support

The Senate approved Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the new HHS secretary on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 08: Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget Sylvia Mathews Burwell waits for the beginning of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health Committee May 8, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. If confirmed, Burwell will succeed Kathleen Sebelius to become the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The chan­ging of the guard at the Health and Hu­man Ser­vices De­part­ment has fin­ished with little to no fire­works.

The Sen­ate voted 78-17 Thursday af­ter­noon to con­firm Sylvia Math­ews Bur­well as the next HHS sec­ret­ary. The fi­nal vote fol­lowed a pro­ced­ur­al vote to end de­bate on her nom­in­a­tion Wed­nes­day, which passed 67-28.

As head of one of the biggest gov­ern­ment agen­cies, and charged with im­ple­ment­ing the still-con­tro­ver­sial Af­ford­able Care Act, the HHS sec­ret­ary holds a highly politi­cized po­s­i­tion. This be­came all the more true fol­low­ing the dis­astrous rol­lout of the fed­er­al en­roll­ment web­site in Oc­to­ber, which had Re­pub­lic­ans call­ing for Se­beli­us’s ter­min­a­tion as early as last fall.

Yet Bur­well’s con­firm­a­tion pro­cess has been sur­pris­ingly smooth. The former Of­fice of Man­age­ment and Budget dir­ect­or has had the sup­port of sev­er­al top Re­pub­lic­an law­makers from the be­gin­ning, in­clud­ing Sens. John Mc­Cain, Tom Coburn, Or­rin Hatch, and Richard Burr. Four­teen Re­pub­lic­ans joined Demo­crats to ad­vance her nom­in­a­tion to a fi­nal vote Wed­nes­day.

“No one should mis­read my vote today as an ac­know­ledge­ment that all is well in the world of Obama­care and HHS,” Sen. Hatch said Thursday, ahead of the vote. “[But Bur­well] has ac­know­ledged, for her part, that prob­lems ex­ist, and is com­mit­ted to fix those prob­lems. Un­der this ad­min­is­tra­tion, that’s prob­ably the best we can hope for.” The sen­at­or from Utah said he would do all he can to help the sec­ret­ary in her new role.

However, the new HHS chief cer­tainly has her work cut out for her. The easy part is over; Bur­well will now have to deal with the con­tin­ued chal­lenges of im­ple­ment­ing the health care law — in­clud­ing on­go­ing tech­nic­al prob­lems, policy changes, polit­ic­al op­pos­i­tion, and loom­ing premi­um rate fil­ings — along with oth­er is­sues that may arise in the de­part­ment. Law­makers hope that her will­ing­ness to work across the aisle will ease some of these po­ten­tial road­b­locks.

"President Trump signed a sweeping spending bill Friday afternoon, averting another partial government shutdown. The action came after Trump had declared a national emergency in a move designed to circumvent Congress and build additional barriers at the southern border, where he said the United States faces 'an invasion of our country.'"

Source:

REDIRECTS $8 BILLION

Trump Declares National Emergency

6 days ago

THE DETAILS

"President Donald Trump on Friday declared a state of emergency on the southern border and immediately direct $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier. The move — which is sure to invite vigorous legal challenges from activists and government officials — comes after Trump failed to get the $5.7 billion he was seeking from lawmakers. Instead, Trump agreed to sign a deal that included just $1.375 for border security."

Source:

COULD SOW DIVISION AMONG REPUBLICANS

House Will Condemn Emergency Declaration

1 weeks ago

THE DETAILS

"House Democrats are gearing up to pass a joint resolution disapproving of President Trump’s emergency declaration to build his U.S.-Mexico border wall, a move that will force Senate Republicans to vote on a contentious issue that divides their party. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Thursday evening in an interview with The Washington Post that the House would take up the resolution in the coming days or weeks. The measure is expected to easily clear the Democratic-led House, and because it would be privileged, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be forced to put the resolution to a vote that he could lose."

Source:

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, DRUG FORFEITURE FUND

Where Will the Emergency Money Come From?

1 weeks ago

THE DETAILS

"ABC News has learned the president plans to announce on Friday his intention to spend about $8 billion on the border wall with a mix of spending from Congressional appropriations approved Thursday night, executive action and an emergency declaration. A senior White House official familiar with the plan told ABC News that $1.375 billion would come from the spending bill Congress passed Thursday; $600 million would come from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund; $2.5 billion would come from the Pentagon's drug interdiction program; and through an emergency declaration: $3.5 billion from the Pentagon's military construction budget."

Source:

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL SIGN

House Passes Funding Deal

1 weeks ago

THE DETAILS

"The House passed a massive border and budget bill that would avert a shutdown and keep the government funded through the end of September. The Senate passed the measure earlier Thursday. The bill provides $1.375 billion for fences, far short of the $5.7 billion President Trump had demanded to fund steel walls. But the president says he will sign the legislation, and instead seek to fund his border wall by declaring a national emergency."